I don't actually have all that much time before I have to run away, eat some lunch, and then get to Cultural Backgrounds of the Bible class. However, I've been thinking about this thought for a few days now, and I wanted to share it with all of you, so here goes. Also, keep in mind that this is really just my thoughts and ideas on the topic, not a fully formed opinion.
The question in the title of the blog post really says a lot about what I've been considering. I know most of us have heard the idea before that the church is the people of God, not the building housing them. And I hope that is something we believe. Jesus calls and sanctifies people, not structures. Standing in Jerusalem I've come to the conclusion that if God wanted a new building, he could have done a lot better than we ever do with our churches. He could have raised up someone to take back the Temple Mount, and he could have restored it to the splendor of the days of Solomon. I, like some of you, have stood at the walls of the Temple Mount, and God has not done that. In fact, I'm more grieved than anything else when I stand at the Western Wall and watch the fervent prayers of a people who still have a veil across their eyes.
That is my picture of what the church is not. But I still have to ask the question, what is the church? I know the first thing that typically comes to mind is local communities of believers gathered together in a building and worshipping God together. And please don't think I have anything against that. I'm strongly affirm the local church, and I have every intention of happily rejoining with mine when I return to the States. But I also wonder if we haven't lost a bit of something in the institutionalizing of the church.
I have been in Israel for over two months now, and I have to admit that I've only been to a traditional church service twice. Very rarely in my life have I spent so little time in a church. And I've never been ok with it before. I've always felt hungry and longing for the community and corporate worship that I find within the church. Yet, for all my lack of church in the last two months, I'm not feeling dry or desperate for fellowship. If fact, it's quite the contrary. I feel like I'm drinking more deeply than I ever have before, and God is working awesome things in my life and the lives of the people around me. So what's different this time?
At JUC I'm surrounded by a community of believers, many of them from pretty different backgrounds and many of them really deeply rooted in Scripture and in a strong and earnest desire to seek after God. Throughout my week, I'm spending time worshipping with other students (sometimes planned, sometimes not), we're praying together for our community, for those who are hurting or struggling, for each other and our own places of need, for God's Presence and instruction, for his leading. There's an honesty and realness here that I've rarely seen in any church back home. I'm not saying that we don't want it in our churches, just that it rarely works that way. Most of us come to church with our good faces on. We don't come to church wearing the nastiness of the week and looking for someone to step into it with us.
So I come back to my original question: what makes a church? Do I need a pastor to have a church? Do I need a worship leader? Or do I just need a bunch of people coming together, committedly sharing in each others, and devoted to seeking God together?
As a last note: I'm not advocating forsaking our local churches and running to start some new movement. I'm really not. I see a great deal of value in the local church, and I think we would miss out on so much if we stopped participating in them. However, I am asking the question of how we view church, and whether or not it is the way we were intended to view church. And if not, how might we start to change that, right where we are?
Well, those are my thoughts from the moment. Please feel free to comment, to agree, to disagree, whatever it is you think on this.
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